Category Archives: Game Recaps

With the regular season a little more than a week away, it’s fair to start talking about games as if they matter a little more. This afternoon’s game was a wire-to-wire victory for the Yankees in which a lot of good things happened on both sides of the scorecard. The team hit, they fielded, and they got great pitching. It was a solid all-around team win.

The biggest individual story to come from the game was another strong start by Nathan Eovaldi. He continued to show improvements in his ability to finish off hitters, successfully navigate lefties, and work his way out of trouble when he did put runners on base. He finished with 4.2 scoreless, walkless innings, only 3 hits against, and 5 strikeouts. He threw 89 pitches and 60 strikes.

Offensively, it was Chase Headley‘s turn to carry the torch again. His solo home run in the top of the 3rd, his third of the spring, got the scoring started for the Yanks and he finished with 3 hits and 3 RBI on the day. …

Joe said he wanted to make a decision on his 5th starter by the end of this week, so last night was a very important start for Esmil Rogers. He looked shaky at best his last time out, and same as Bryan Mitchell he was going up against a really good start by Adam Warren the last time Warren took the mound.

He was facing the regular Detroit Tiger lineup that was full of tough and dangerous hitters and he didn’t fair very well against them. He got hit early and hit often in the 1st inning and escaped with only 1 run against him. He got hit again in the top of the 2nd, exacerbated that problem by committing a fielding error, couldn’t finish off the inning with 2 outs, and got tagged for 4 more runs. It was not a good outing.

The Yankee lineup chipped in a bunch of small contributions that were enough to keep them within striking distance in the bottom of the 9th, and once again it was the young guys coming up with the big hits to get the W. …

If Bryan Mitchell was going to make a move in the 5th starter race, today was the day for it to happen and the day it had to happen. Adam Warren looked really good his last time out, so the job may be all but sewn up already. But Esmil Rogers was pretty blah his last time out, so if there was a chance to jump him for the next in line if another injury were to occur (knock on wood) it was today.

Mitchell had 2/3 of a Major League outfield, the starting catcher catching, the backup catcher DH’ing, Garrett Jones at first, Aaron Judge in right, and a trio of non-starters at the other 3 infield spots, so it was quite the mish-mash in terms of a lineup. That’ll happen when you’re playing on the other side of the state. He turned in a pretty good performance in front of them, despite what the final numbers showed, Whether it was enough to get him another turn in the rotation remains to be seen.…

CC Sabathia was hitting the road for his second Spring Training start of 2015 this afternoon, and he was bringing his starting infield with him to Port St. Lucie to take on Matt Harvey and the Mets. Harvey’s on a comeback trail of his own this spring, one that’s come with more positive fireworks thus far than Sabathia’s in terms of on-field results, but CC wasn’t buying into any local media-created storyline there. He knows what really matters right now and that’s what he was keeping his focus on.

In terms of how successfully he achieved the goals he had for himself today, I’d say it was a mixed bag. Sabathia once again showcased impressive velocity for this time of year, but his fastball command was a tick off and the Mets hitters made him pay for it on more than one occasion. Their power display against the big guy was more than enough for them to cruise to victory behind Harvey and a missing Yankee offense.…

Bracket’s garbage. Hungover as hell. Hal is out running his trap to his newspaper mouthpieces again. And the Yanks lost to the Phillies last night. Not a good morning at all.

Game Notes:

– Esmil Rogers got the start and he didn’t help his cause any in the competition for the 5th starter, assuming he actually had a chance to win the job. He gave up 3 earned runs on 5 hits and a walk in 3.1 innings and struck out 3.

– Rogers was followed by David Carpenter and Tyler Webb, and they each tossed 1.2 scoreless innings. Carptenter walked 2 while Webb struck out 2. Is it wrong if I say I haven’t been impressed by Carpenter so far? Because I haven’t.

– There wasn’t much to talk about on the offensive side of the box score. Chase Headley went 1-3 with his second home run of the spring, Stephen Drew doubled, drove in a run, and drew a walk in 3 trips, and Carlos Beltran had a ribbie single. …

It was the second spring start for Masahiro Tanaka last night, and it went even better than the first. 3.2 innings of scoreless, walkless ball and a whole heaping helping of run support against an Atlanta Braves team sporting more former Yankees than Old Timers’ Day. Only thing that would have made this game better would have been the game actually counting.

Game Notes:

– Tanaka’s full line: 3.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K. He looks great, like he never missed a beat. In a spring that’s been littered with major starting pitching injuries, it would be pretty sweet if Tanaka was the exception and stayed healthy all year.

– Andrew Bailey made his 2015 debut, his first game appearance since July of 2013 actually, and looked about how you’d expect for a guy who hasn’t pitched in that long. He gave up a few hits, an unearned run, and was wild with his offspeed stuff despite sitting low 90s on the radar gun.…

So big news, gang. I finally got to watch my first televised Yankee baseball of 2015 last night! The girlfriend and I ran out to a bar to get takeout Reubens for dinner and the bar happened to have MLB Network on a few TVs. It wasn’t much. I basically got to watch the last few batters of the bottom of the 2nd and Dellin Betances give up that triple to Reyes, but it was still baseball and I’m counting it.

As for the game itself, it was chock full of storylines. The biggest and most important was the return of CC Sabathia, but that was far from the only one. Al from Miami was back at the hot corner and batting second as Joe continues to see what he can get out of Al in a variety of different scenarios. While the rest of the starting lineup was in action, Chase Headley and Jacoby Ellsbury were not, and we later found out that Ellsbury’s absence was due to the mildest ab strain in the history of human existence.…

With all due respect to my main man A-Rod, last night’s game was the infinitely more important ST debut in terms of impact on the team’s success. Masahiro Tanaka was the man making his debut, and unlike a greater-than-zero percentage of the Yankee fanbase I was not worried about him at all. I was looking forward to seeing him pitch again. Just the thought of him pitching was giving me goosebumps when I was following the game online last night. And he did not disappoint. Tanaka looked very good in his 2 innings of work, highlighting another 1-run Yankee victory.

Game Notes:

– Tanaka’s line: 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K, 4 GB outs. He retired the 6 batters he faced in order and did it on 19 pitches (15 strikes). He was so efficient that he didn’t even reach his pitch count in game action and finished his scheduled work in the bullpen. …

This dive started on the warning track. True story. Courtesy of the AP

In the first of what is hopefully not many starts for the Major League club this year, Chase Whitley took the ball to start this afternoon’s Spring Training square-off with the Baltimore Orioles. Whitley’s one of the guys who is stretched out to work multiple innings early while guys like Tanaka and CC work at a slower pace, and that’s why he got the nod. He turned in a perfectly Whitley-esque 3-inning outing and got a lot of strong relief innings from a pretty solid group of scheduled bullpen guys. But the offense didn’t generate much and the Yanks racked up another meaningless L in the ST W-L column.

Game Notes:

– Whitley’s 3 innings came with 2 hits and 3 walks, but ultimately no runs. He successfully worked out of the trouble he created for himself and there’s something to be said for that. Definitely needs to sharpen up the command though. …